


Spin

by CelticKnot



Series: Mass Effect Fictober 2019 [31]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Culture Shock, Fictober 2019, Gen, MEFFictober2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 11:28:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21252665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticKnot/pseuds/CelticKnot
Summary: MEFFictober Prompt: "This is Halloween!" One people's hero is another people's villain. At Kasumi's Halloween party, two sides of the same story collide.





	Spin

**Author's Note:**

> This fic refers to a scene in _The Paths We Are Given,_ Part 2: "Prayers for the Wicked," but it's not necessary to have read that.

“Hey, Garrus. You ready to go?”

"Just a minute. I—” Garrus looked up at her and froze. “Spirits, Shepard.  _ What  _ are you wearing?"

He almost didn’t recognize her. She’d painted her face white, with black marks to make it look like a round, cartoonish skull. Black gloves printed with bones made her hands look literally skeletal, and a black suit with long white pinstripes gave her small, slight frame a spindly lankiness that made her seem much taller than she really was.

She laughed and spread her arms wide. “Come on, you don’t recognize it? I’m Jack Skellington!” When Garrus only stared blankly, her jaw dropped open. “Do you mean to tell me that, after all the old vids we’ve watched together from the past two and a half centuries, I never showed you  _ The Nightmare Before Christmas _ ? It’s a classic!” She shook her head. “Well, I know what we’re doing after the party tonight. What are you supposed to be?”

Garrus looked down at his costume, a cobbled-together approximation of a Cabalist’s uniform from decades ago. In all honesty, he felt a little ridiculous. Turians didn’t have any kind of holiday that remotely approached the human celebration of Halloween, and dressing up like this felt like a child’s game. Even stranger was having someone else’s colony markings on his face. 

On the other hand, he was pretty proud of the lights he’d rigged up to complete the look. “I’m, uh, Tacitus Caelian,” he said. “A famous turian biotic who was killed in the line of duty. Check this out.” He gestured, and lights in his gloves lit his hands blue.

Shepard grinned, and he suddenly felt much less silly. “That is  _ cool,”  _ she enthused. “Come on, let’s go see what everyone else came up with.”

* * *

The crew had gathered in the mess hall for Kasumi’s Halloween party, costumed as creatures and characters from vids, stories, mythology, and history. Zaeed had painted himself up as Frankenstein’s monster. Tali had dressed as the female lead from  _ Fleet and Flotilla.  _ Samara came hooded and robed as the goddess Athame. Even Thane, who had initially expressed skepticism about the idea of a costume party, had gotten in on the fun. Garrus didn’t recognize his character, but he guessed it to be something out of drell mythology.

Speaking of Thane, his eyes widened when he saw Garrus. He froze for a moment, then threaded his way through the crowd. He approached Garrus looking a little stunned.

He said nothing at first, so Garrus, feeling awkward, broke the silence. “Hey, Krios. Nice costume.”

Thane nodded absently, looking Garrus’s outfit up and down with an expression of barely contained amusement on his face. “Garrus,” he said finally. “Tacitus Caelian, if I’m not mistaken?”

"Impressive," Garrus said with a grin. "Not too many people are that familiar with turian history."

Thane chuckled. "One knows one is growing old," he said drily, "when events from your own past are referred to as 'history.'" He raised his brow ridge. "An interesting choice, considering the embarrassment Caelian's death brought to the Turian Hierarchy."

"Embarrassment?" Garrus demanded. "What are you talking about? Caelian was a hero!"

"Was he?" Thane looked taken aback. "If you would indulge my curiosity, Garrus—how is Caelian remembered by the Hierarchy?"

"He's probably the most celebrated Cabalist in history!" said Garrus. "He was a master spy and saboteur who died in the line of duty." He shrugged. "The details of his death are classified, of course—everything the Cabals touch is classified. Why?"

Thane tucked his hands behind his back. "The Illuminated Primacy remembers him… differently. Caelian died on one of Kahje's orbital defense stations. He was lured there by a false leak of experimental weapons technology, and was killed to prevent his continuing activities starting a war."

"And how do you know that?" Garrus snapped.

"I was there."

"You were there?" Staring in disbelief, Garrus snorted and shook his head. "Caelian died close to twenty-five years ago. You'd have been, what—"

"Fourteen." Thane met his eyes evenly. "And on one of my earlier missions for the Compact."

"For the…" Garrus blinked as the pieces fell into place. "Spirits, Krios. Tell me you're joking."

Thane raised his brow ridge. "I do not joke about such things."

At a loss for words, Garrus could only fold his arms and look away from that dark, steady gaze. He’d come here expecting a lesson on human culture, not to have his understanding of his own people’s history turned on his head. But if Caelian’s story was all spin, all propaganda, how many other famous figures were the same? How many of the tales that had inspired his childhood had been similarly whitewashed, sanitized for public consumption?

He didn’t really want to think about that. Not now, at least. Instead, he shot back, “Yeah, true. You don’t joke about anything, do you?” He clapped Thane on the back and steered him toward the galley counter, which for the party had been repurposed into a bar. “Let’s grab some drinks and see if we can’t get you to lighten up.”

* * *

Shepard stood back with a smile, nursing her own drink, and watched the crew mingle. It was good they’d found the time for this, and Halloween made as good an excuse as any to do it. And the costumes made great icebreakers as people who rarely spoke to one another used them to spark conversations.

She saw Samara talking quietly with Dr. Chakwas. Kasumi teased Jacob until he blushed, and kept it up until he started teasing her back. Jack and Grunt roared with laughter at a shared joke. Garrus and Thane chatted over drinks. Tali had pulled up some kind of vid on her omni-tool and was showing it to Zaeed. All in all, everyone seemed to be having a good time.

This was exactly what they’d all needed. This camaraderie might well be the thing that saved them, that brought them back from the Omega-4 relay. This closeness, this budding friendship, might be the reason they survived.

Shepard allowed herself the tiniest glimmer of hope. Maybe this wasn’t such a suicide mission after all.


End file.
